“An artist expresses himself with his heart, so it is with your heart that you must take in their works. That’s the only thing that matters.”

Marcel Duchamp

Ich liebe dich…

     

   

 

                                Jason Schwartzmen

                          Band of Outsiders Lookbook

11 Rue Larrey.

 

 

If you were to go back many years ago, back to 1927, back to Paris and wonder through the streets, eventually you would come across 11 Rue Larrey. It was in this building that Surrealist artist Marcel Duchamp, was playing with a string of words - “A door must be either open or closed.” To most this was a French Proverb, but to Duchamp it was a challenge… or a joke – either way it had impact. It had meaning. And it could not be ignored.

It was then that he created, one of his more complex ready mades. His idea was to make a door that perfectly fitted two doorways. It connected the apartment entrance to his bathroom. When the door closed one room, it left the other open, thus bringing two contradictions together in the same moment. He described this simple, yet brilliant idea, as the definative ‘reconciliation of opposites.’

Ultimately this piece is memorable because it is the perfect expression of one man’s sense of humour. It is not so much a testament to surrealism, but really one of whimsy.

“The secret of life is in art.”

Oscar Wilde

…A Thousand Words.

The Mandolin Player,

Photographed Despite a Death Threat to the Photographer

Don McCullin

 

I think photojournalism is such a powerful art form. Not only do such images create a reality out of a tragedy, but they anchor true emotion. It isn’t a replication. It just is.

Take Don McCullin’s ‘The Mandolin Player’ – you can just picture it, can’t you?

It is 1976. A man stalks, cat-like, through Quarantina, a Muslim ghetto. Armed with his camera, it is clear he does not belong. Nonetheless he continues, merging with the shadows cast through the run down alleys of East Beirut. He isn’t sure what he is looking for, he just knows he will recognize it when he finds it. And then, it happens.

“Hey Mistah. Mistah! Come take photo.”

A mandolin player is waving. He stands amongst a group of Christian Falangists. They are celebrating over a new life lost, dancing over the body of a Palestinian girl. This man has a choice. He raises his camera, adjusts the shutter, and clicks.

…shortly afterwards he discovers that there is a death warrant out for him.

J’adore…

Musician in the Rain

Robert Doisneau

"Painting is a need, not a choice."

Leonora Carrington